Heading out at last – June 26 -30
4:00 p.m. The RV was packed. The kitchen and all food areas of the house were clean. And then, unbelievably, we were off! We went to Bald Eagle State Park, which is our favorite local kayaking spot. We shared the driving, stopped at our local shopping center for a late lunch and to pick up some items for dinner, and arrived just in time to start cooking.
We immediately discovered another advantage of the Travato. Because it has 2 outside electrical sockets, we were able to cook outside. Chuck made his marvellous Instant Pot chicken and we enjoyed ice cream from our freezer.
We fired up the TV to watch the first round of Democratic presidential candidate debates.
It was a spectacularly clear night. Even though we are close to many towns, it was clear enough to see the Milky Way. As well, the fireflies were in full display.
Whether it was the memory foam or the long day, we slept extremely well!
Our first real day of camping in the Travato! After breakfast, we played with the water heater until we had hot water for dishes, but had our showers in the campground bathrooms.
After breakfast, we assembled the bikes and road around this part of the park, which is on a penninsula sticking into Ayers Lake (a man-made lake). Although we come to the park several times each summer, we have usually just launched our kayaks from the other side of the lake. This side not only has the campgrounds and beach, it also has a very nice hotel with great views over the lake, a good beach, a marina that hosts mostly small pontoon boats and which rents bikes and many types of small watercraft. Our fold-up bikes proved themselves on the hills and were quite comfortable.
Our plan was that after lunch we would pack up and get groceries (as we already ran out of some items) and then head out to a boat launch site. We went to the little town of Beech Creek to pick up groceries at a local Pennsylvania Dutch grocery store. (These stores are amazing both for their locally “canned” (actually bottled) goods as well as unusual bulk goods such as jello (top shelf, colored packages), cereal and other things you don’t get as bulk items at regular supermarkets.)
At the boat launch site we realized that the day had turned extremely hot – well over 90F. It did not seem like good weather for kayaking. We are not really beach types. So we decided to return to the campsite where we could plug in, turn on the air-conditioning and enjoy nature through our windshield. (Such are the advantages of RV life.) With the heat steady throughout the daylight hours, we decided to delay the kayak debut to the next morning.
Chuck’s chicken dinner makes 4 – 6 servings (it was more like 5 this time) so dinner prep was simple. I made a salad and cut up a lot of vegetables to be prepared in the microwave.
The next morning, by the time we cooked our weekly portion of steel cut oats for breakfast and broke camp, the temperature was already well over 90F. But, we definitely wanted to test out the kayaks, so we took a brief paddle in Ayers Lake. The kayaks handle well, although they are a bit slow.
We then headed back to State College to shop for items we wanted for the RV, pick up a few small items from home, and drop off a few things we felt we could live without.
We spent the night near DuBois at a KOA in Treasure Lake, a gated community. The KOA is very large and the campsites are well-covered with trees. It is quite pleasant. We ended our day by taking a bicycle ride around the campground, and then working on “updates” to the RV.
Our main updates are 2 tension rods, one in the bathroom to hold caddies that can hold our toiletries and hooks to hold towels, wet clothes, etc. The other rod will hold a curtain to separate the bedroom and bathroom from the rest of the RV, to give us some privacy in the evening and morning. We also found some small shelves which I hope to tape to the bedroom wall so that I have a place for a box of tissues, my phone and glasses, and possibly even a book. We also found some hooks that attach to the wall with adhesive strong enough to hold sweaters, etc. These small items really make a difference to the liveability of the RV.
On Saturday we decided to start taking advantage of the good road handling of this vehicle, and got off the freeway and on to secondary highways. Although we have often traveled east of State College en route to Toronto, Pittsburgh or Northeast, we have never done any sightseeing. This trip we took the time to visit a few towns.
Our first stop was DuBois, home of Penn State DuBois. It proved to be quite small, with a tiny main street. We were delighted, however, to learn that our former neighbor is working at the Italian restaurant there, where her brother (who we did not really know) is the cook. Our lunch there was really good (and provided enough left-overs so making dinner was a cinch).
Our next stop was Punxutawney of Groundhog Day fame.
It just happened that they were celebrating the “Groundhog Festival” with a fireman’s parade and fair. The parade was classic small-town America (although with many more fire trucks than usual) — school marching bands, drill teams, baton twirlers, school sports champions and local clubs. Although we are in the heart of Trump country, one of the local clubs was the local Pride club, led by the middle-aged baton-twirler in the photo. As far as I could see, he was the best twirler in the parade and was applauded appropriately. I had to admire the man’s nerve as well as his twirling skills. The local groundhog celebrity, Punxutawney Phil also made an appearance.
Based on the number of large and elaborate homes we saw near downtown Punxutawney, it must have been very prosperous at one time. Several of the mansions had very unique architecture, so I imagine that there must have been a local architect, or style, at the time they were built. We were impressed, however, at how inexpensive homes were there – we priced a couple of these mansions at under $120K, which would not get you a parking space in downtown State College.
With thunderstorms threatening, we did not stay for the fair, but drove on to Indiana PA, home of Indiana University of PA. This is by far the largest of the 3 towns, with a thriving downtown. Fortunately, by the time we arrived, the rain had stopped and we were able to enjoy our walk.
We ended our day at a campground just a few miles to the west.
The next day, we drove the short distance to the cute town of Kittanning on the Allegheny River. Not only does Kittaning have a lovely riverside park and which makes a T with their downtown, it also has a long stretch of rail-trail that parallels the river.
Like most rail-trails, it goes through backyards and industrial developments, but it if mostly very wooded, with great views over the river.
We spent the afternoon driving to Salt Forks State Park in Ohio. Although Google maps thought this was just a 2 hour drive, a long and windy detour added an hour to the trip. Admittedly, this is pretty country-side.
We found that another advantage to the van is that we were able to stop for groceries en route – a definite time-saver. We checked in to Salt Forks for 2 nights.